In pursuit of 'high-concept' movies

By Frank Sanello

HOLLYWOOD (NEA) - A few years ago, writer-director Jim Brooks was complaining about the trouble he had trying to sell his script for "Terms of Endearment."

Every major studio in Hollywood had turned him down because he couldn't shoehorn his screenplay into a single high-concept sentence.

In Agent-talk, a high-concept movie is one you can describe in a simple, declarative sentence. Some of Hollywood's biggest hits have started as a high-concept line.

Remember these blockbusters? "Shark terrorizes resort community." "Youth battles evil empire in outer space." "Muscular vet refights Vietnam War."

If you didn't guess "Jaws," "Star Wars" an d"Rambo," respectively, then you are not a moviegoer.

If you identified the movies correctly, you might want to indulge in a little parlor game. The rules are simple — so simple, in fact, that anyone can play without a board, dice or playing cards.

Gather a bunch of movie lovers who are tired of playing Trivial Pursuit. The purpose of the game is to boil down classic film plots into a simple declarative sentence. One player names a movie, and the next player has to transform the film into a high concept. If the sentence includes two verbs — that's not a simple, declarative sentence — players lose a turn. Those truly sadistic players can penalize losers by denying them next Sunday's local arts & leisure section.

Those who can describe a movie without using a verb at all can take another turn. Big wheel players can arrange among themselves for valuable prizes to be awarded to winners.

Here are some "starter concepts" to get your game rolling:

• "Gone With the Wind" — Southern belle is obsessed with Civil War real estate.
• "Casablanca" — World War II interferes with true romance.
• "Dr. Zhivago" — Russian Revolution interferes with another true romance.
• "Wizard Of Oz" — Dog lover hallucinates.
• "My Fair Lady" — Flower girl learns grammar the hard way.
• "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" — Sibling rivalry degenerates.
• "Funny Girl" — Ugly duckling turns into ugly canary.
• "The Sound of Music" — Nun fights Nazis with saccharin.
• "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" — Fun couple kisses and cracks up. (Ooops! Two verbs. Penalty: Attend 48-hour Jerry Lewis Movie Marathon.)
• "The Lion in Winter" — King checkmates queen.
• "Fiddler on the Roof" — Pogroms receive musical treatment.
• "Ben Hurt" — Chariots of Fire. (No verb! Suggested prize: Attend this year's Cannes film festival with Rambo for bodyguard.)
• "The Bells of St. Mary's" — Asexual priest falls for asexual nun.
• "Easy Rider" — Coupla white guys riding around talking and tripping. (Ooops! Three verbs. Forfeit one turn or one year's subscription to Film Comment.)
• "Lawrence of Arabia" — Weird Brit hangs out with men in white robes.

Joking aside, the point is that something is missing in these high-concept ideas. In fact, non of the great films of the past can be accurately described in high-concept terms.

And yet it seems that two-thirds of the movies produced these days easily fit into a single sentence.

For those who deplore this trend, there are always old classics on videocassette.

Gentlemen, start your VCRs!